“He’s on his final strike with them” - Nick Wright believes Kyrie Irving might not finish the season with the Nets, believes 1 unpaid leave will lead to him being shopped
Kyrie Irving is on thin ice in Brooklyn, according to Nick Wright, who believes the 7x All-Star may not even finish the season on the Nets.
Irving has only played 105 games for Brooklyn since joining in 2019-20 and sat for a dominant portion of last season. As a result, Wright believes that one more unpaid leave is going to send Irving to being traded.
Wright outlined:
“I’m not convinced Kyrie finishes the season with the Nets. I think he’s on his final strike with them and because he picked up his option and he has no more leverage the rest of the year, they could trade him anywhere.”
Rumors surfaced last week stating that Kyrie Irving may leave the Nets and that Lakers were prime contenders to grab him. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant was said to be looking to leave Brooklyn. The Nets were apparently ‘prepared to lose’ both KD and Kyrie.
Until the two spoke up on their own.
Kyrie Irving opted into his $37 million player option, explaining that he has no plans on leaving Kevin Durant.
Durant explained his interest in staying, pointing out the media as saying anything they will to gain attention.
Regardless of the devotion from both players, though, Nick Wright believes that Kyrie is not going to last a full season in Brooklyn.
Due to his shaky history with the Nets, Kyrie Irving’s devotion to the squad has remained in question for over an entire year. If something puts Kyrie out of play this season, the analyst believes his team is not going to waste anymore time on him.
Losing faith in Kyrie Irving seems like a concept nobody would ever have to grasp. But after this year's vaccination politics, placing him on the bench, only to come back and get swept by Boston in the first round, did not reflect well on his legacy.
Kyrie’s last success story came in Cleveland with LeBron in 2016. Boston despises him for leaving to Brooklyn, and Irving has yet to make a large name for himself in a Nets uniform.
All we see are a few highlights from the time he did play this season, where he still deplores the same level of elite small finishers he always has. But the devotion to his team being in question remains.
Kyrie Irving proved this year that his personal decisions far outweigh his business decisions. And to some, that may be respectable, but to many who run their teams as it is — a business — it may not be attractive.
The Lakers are an organization that cannot afford to be picky going forward, so them being the prime contenders to jump for Kyrie made sense. But them being the only seriously interested party is questionable.
Irving has set himself up to be questionable in the eyes of coaches and owners in the league. Players may find it appealing to want to play alongside him, but there are truthfully minimal teams willing to sacrifice their core to take a chance on Kyrie after what he proved last year.